Lockheed Martin Says the F-35 Program is Back on Schedule

The F-35 Lightning II has run into a litany of technical delays and cost overruns since design on the first prototype began in the early 2000s. The long-range strike fighter promises to offer unparalleled evasion technologies and stealth capabilities, but it comes at a cost—$391.1 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office, up from $233 billion as originally projected.

But there might be some good news for the costly fighter jet. Daniel Conroy, Lockheed Martin director of the Air Force F-35 program, said Monday that the program is finally back on schedule—at least, the revamped schedule from 2012.

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This isn't to say that the troubles plaguing the F-35 are over. Full-scale production of the F-35, which will amount to about 200 planes a year, isn't expected to begin until 2019, seven years after the initial prediction of 2012. Also, the U.S. government is expected to purchase 400 fewer planes than originally projected, meaning 2,457 total. Canada recently canceled its order of F-35s, and a fighter pilot discussed the jet's shortcomings in a dogfight in a June report.

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Further technical problems are also inevitable, the Government Accountability Office warns. In June 2014, for example, an engine overheated and burst into flames. The GAO identifies the F-35's engine as one of the biggest areas of concern, stating in an April report, "The F-35 engine reliability is not improving as expected and will take additional time and resources to achieve reliability goals."

But those directly involved with the project say these setbacks are to be expected, and they are confident that the world's most expensive war machine will ultimately be worth the wait and cost.

"You don't get through any flight test program, especially one as complex as this, without having a few things that you just go, 'Wow, I wouldn't have thought of that,'" said Conroy. "But the good news is there hasn't been anything insurmountable. We've worked through things pretty quickly."